Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348155
link to a website. This is a great network for getting to know people without sharing a lot of personal informa- tion. Plus, you can follow whomever you want, and any- one can follow you. "It allows you to easily connect with prospects and potential associates, so it's great for businesses," Alex says. "People use it primarily as a source of news, which makes it easy to interact with people you don't know – you have something to talk about." Twitter is now aggressively clean- ing house of "robot" follow- ers – dummy accounts sold for cheap that make it look like the buyer has a huge follow- ing. Even if you don't buy robots, you may end up with some as followers. "Don't buy followers and delete any of your fol- lowers that don't appear real. Twitter limits how many followers you can have, so you don't want to waste them on 'bots," Alex says. LINKEDIN: The social network for professionals is a good place to find and meet people within and outside your industry. People can easily see your credentials and endorse your skills. The background information on your profile page – where you went to school, other companies you've been associated with – provides great fodder for finding common ground with strangers and building relationships . GOOGLE+: The Google search engine favors anything posted on Google+, which is great for SEO. It also com- bines the best features of Facebook and Twitter, including photo sharing and categorizing content using hashtags (#). "Right now, Google+ can be any- thing you want it to be," Alex says. "It's still new, just more than 2 years old, so it's still defining itself. I think it will be the next social networking giant." As Alex suggests, if you plan to handle your social media marketing yourself, take into consideration the modes of net- working that you enjoy along with the best platforms to meet your needs. If you have limited experience in social media, jump into the platforms that seem to best align with your goals. You'll have a learning curve, but a little practice goes a long way. And you'll soon wonder why you did- n't get more involved a long time ago! B M & T ••• May/June 2014 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 26